Attorney General William Barr said the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into President Trump's campaign was conducted in an inappropriate manner, given the evidence the bureau had on hand.

"The Inspector General’s report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken," Barr said in a statement responding to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s 476-page report released on Monday.

"It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory," Barr continued. "Nevertheless, the investigation and surveillance was pushed forward for the duration of the campaign and deep into President Trump’s administration."

The inspector general, who was looking into allegations of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse to monitor onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, found the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into Trump's team was properly authorized and no political bias influencing the investigation but also determined the bureau made "at least 17 significant errors or omissions" in the applications spanning from October 2016 to the summer of 2017.

Barr criticized what he described as a rushed effort by the FBI to "obtain and maintain FISA surveillance of Trump campaign associates" and stressed that Horowitz found explanations for their actions were "unsatisfactory." This included the failure to include information "negating the reliability of their principal source," with which Barr appears to be referring to British ex-spy Christopher Steele, whose unverified dossier was used in the FBI's applications to make their case before the FISA court for monitoring Page.

"While most of the misconduct identified by the Inspector General was committed in 2016 and 2017 by a small group of now-former FBI officials, the malfeasance and misfeasance detailed in the Inspector General’s report reflects a clear abuse of the FISA process," Barr said.

The attorney general said FBI Director Christopher Wray is "dismayed" about the handling of these FISA applications, and he is announcing on Monday a "comprehensive set of proposed reforms" to avoid future surveillance misconduct.

Barr has become a polarizing figure as he is also overseeing an investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, for which Trump gave him full declassification authority. Democrats, who are nearing an impeachment vote in the House this week, have raised concerns that Barr is leveraging intelligence-gathering practices to attack Trump's political rivals.

Republicans have defended Barr's actions as legitimate efforts to get to the truth about what happened in the investigation. In the days leading up to the release of Horowitz's report on Monday, media reports claimed Barr was telling colleagues that he disagreed with the inspector general's conclusion that the FBI had sufficient evidence to launch a counterintelligence investigation into Trump's 2016 campaign. This prompted a statement from the Justice Department praising Horowitz's work.

“The Inspector General’s investigation is a credit to the Department of Justice. His excellent work has uncovered significant information that the American people will soon be able to read for themselves. Rather than speculating, people should read the report for themselves next week, watch the inspector general’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and draw their own conclusions about these important matters,” DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said last week.

Trump's allies have warned of an effort to downplay the inspector general's report and play up rumors of a rift between Horowitz and Barr. Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham warned that witnesses who were the subject of Horowitz's investigation and the media were "trying overtime to spin this thing to diminish its effect, to downplay it."

Barr has long signaled skepticism about whether the Trump-Russia investigation began on sound legal footing. “I think spying did occur. But the question is whether it was predicated — adequately predicated," Barr told the Senate in April.

Facing blowback for the use of the word "spying," including from FBI Director Christopher Wray, Barr refused to back down. In May, he called “spying” a “good English word” and told CBS News some facts he had uncovered “don’t hang together with the official explanations of what happened.”

The FBI defines “predicated investigations” in its operational guidelines, which note the bureau “has the authority to investigate threats to the national security." This includes issues related to intelligence operations or espionage by foreign powers while requiring “the least intrusive means or method be considered” when investigating. All investigative activities must be conducted for an “authorized purpose,” which must be “well-founded and well-documented.”.......

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Graham reacts to IG's report on FBI bias: This is a sad day

@ 3:49 " the Russian Dossier is NOT RELIABLE "

Evidence was NOT included as exculpatory evidence *

Lindsay Graham says there will be a

SENATE INVESTIGATION

and people WILL be held accountable for lying in the Fisa process*

criminal conspiracy to defraud the FISA Court !!!

how do you know WHO to believe anymore?

Comey says that he's been vindicated.